Melomys Thomas, 1922

Guy G. Musser & Michael D. Carleton, 1993, Order Rodentia - Family Muridae, Mammal Species of the World (2 nd Edition), Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 501-755 : 615

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.7353098
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7284334
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/03D087AE-FF84-FFC9-FF30-0A2FFB93FC36
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scientific name	Melomys Thomas, 1922
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Treatment

Melomys Thomas, 1922 View in CoL . Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 9, 9:261.

TYPE SPECIES: Uromys rufescens Alston, 1877 .

SYNONYMS: Paramelomys .

COMMENTS: Member of the Australian and New Guinea region Old Endemics ( Musser, 1981c, 19826). Morphological and distributional limits need revision. Currently, three primary groups can be recognized: (1) species endemic or indigenous to New Guinea region ( fellowsi , gracilis , leucogaster , levipes , lorentzii , mollis , moncktoni , platyops , and rufescens ); (2) Australian species ( capensis , cervinipes , rubicola ), one occurring on Australia and New Guinea ( burtoni ), and some Moluccan species ( aerosus , fraterculus , and obiensis ); (3) New Guinea lanosus and rattoides . Data from microcomplement fixation of albumin indicated Australian Melomys was closely related to Uromys and in the same monophyletic group with Mesembriomys , Leporillus , Conilurus , and Zyzomys ( Watts et al., 1992) .

Mahoney and Richardson (1988) cataloged taxonomic, distributional, and biological references to Australian species; Flannery (19906) summarized the same for many of the New Guinea Melomys.